


alone in the TARDIS

by simplyclockwork



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who BBC, New Who - Fandom
Genre: Ramblings, prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-22
Updated: 2011-11-22
Packaged: 2017-10-26 10:43:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/282132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/simplyclockwork/pseuds/simplyclockwork
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Doctor finds himself alone in the TARDIS, and muses on the past. Prompt fic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	alone in the TARDIS

He’d done it again. Broken the TARDIS. What was this—the fourth time this month? Most likely it was more, but his shattered ego really couldn’t take much more of a beating right then, so four it was.

As the time machine groaned and listed on its side, the mad man grappled with the controls, his hands scrabbling along the consol, fingers grasping desperately at every lever, switch, and button they came in contact with.

“Nope, nothing, no good—and what is _that_?” He muttered to himself, all the while pressing and pulling and switching on and off everything he could, all to no avail. The blue, time travelling police-box whirled through space, out of control and off it’s axis, and the Doctor sighed, eyes dancing along with the flickering lights flashing over the console. The Time Lord shook his head and leaned back against the railings circling the control room, his long fingers curling around the bars.

“Nothing to be done now, I suppose.” He hummed, jiggling his foot and tapping his fingernails against the cold metal beneath his palms; _tink, tink, tink_. He rather liked that noise; it amused him, distracted him from thoughts of things like broken time machine, impossible astronauts, and the possibility of falling silence.

“Never liked silence, really, to be honest—no offense, but it’s rather boring. Can’t stand it, ghastly stuff, nothing exciting in the lack of sound, definitely not.” He blathered on peacefully to himself, ignoring the high-pitched whistling now emitting from the console as he swung down from the platform, leaning out at the extent of his arms and tilting his head up to the roof. “Nine hundred years together, and we still have to have these little spats, old girl?” He mused, letting go of the bars, and twirling his way about the control room, smiling slightly to himself. “Like an old married couple, always arguing and disagreeing—and crashing into things, I guess. Although I suppose married couples don’t really crash into things that often—unless they were driving, I guess. Hard to drive and argue at the same time, I imagine.”

He sat down on the edge of the platform as he rambled, still smiling as he dangled his legs over the side, swinging them front and back absently. “Silly things, humans, don’t you think? Always going about, messing themselves up, messing each other up. Never happy, that lot, not at all—always in danger, too, now that I think about it. Never get done saving them, I suppose, probably not. Silly things, silly minds and silly lives.” He sighed, rubbing his face and resting his chin in his palm, elbow on his knee. “Short lives, too—such short, frantic lives. Like a flame, burning bright and quick one second, and snuffed out quite smart the next. Rather sad, I’d say.”

With a sigh, he folded his hands together and leaned his chin on top, his age-old eyes far away and fogging over. Behind him, the TARDIS made harsh groaning noises, but all that was fading away—disappearing into time and space.

Companions… _his_ companions, travelling with him in the TARDIS. They always left—or he had to leave them behind. Humans—such a fickle, vulnerable race. He never could keep them safe: he tried; he struggled and fought and strived, but it was never enough. And he knew it never would be. He was one man; they were an entire race.

There was only so much he could do, when they seemed to find themselves back into trouble’s path as soon as he turned his back.

“I’ll never get done saving this lot,” he murmured to himself beneath his breath, and he stood up with a shuddering sigh. Behind him, the TARDIS had finally fallen silent; stabilized, and was drifting silently through empty space. Wiping the back of his hand across his eyes, he wandered back to the console, turning a lazy, lacklustre spin as he reached it.

“Hey there, old girl,” he said softly, a fond smile curving his lips. He ran his palm along the controls, fingers dancing between flashing lights and sparkling keys. “What do you say to one more adventure, hmm? One last, amazing, absolutely insane adventure?” He tilted his head back, turning his smile upwards as he leaned his hips against the low console, hands braced on levers and gears.

Reaching beneath the control, he felt about for a low, hidden shelf, his fingertips searching for the familiar feeling of paper. Finding it, he pulled out his hand, several TARDIS-blue envelopes balanced between his fingers. He smiled, looking at the names written on each: _Amy, Rory, River, Canton… Doctor._

Tucking them inside his jacket, he shook his head with a soft laugh, before whirling away around the control room, his hands pulling levers and pressing buttons, his feet moving his body in a swaying motion that perfectly matched the whirring sounds of the time machine. He laughed again, throwing out his arms as the last of the TARDIS’ began to dematerialize into the dark of deep space, the last of the Time Lords dancing, carefree, inside.

“Death of the Doctor, hey sexy? Final chapter and all that; sounds like a best seller to me, if I may say so myself… wouldn’t you?”


End file.
